Skinwalker Belle – Chapter 484 – The Resolve of the Federation’s Genius

Western Sichuan Base Command Center.

Chu Chen stared at the glaring deep-red light spot on the main screen.

Fifty high-energy reaction points were converging in the skies above Siberia.

He pressed the communication key.

“Lu Yuan, Zhu Yan. The enemies from the Siberian direction haven’t dispersed. They’ve locked onto your position.” Chu Chen’s voice carried no inflection—he was simply stating a deadly fact. “The energy fluctuations from your earlier battle haven’t fully dissipated. Their perception range covers that entire area.”

The sound of wind and snow crackled through the communicator.

“Zhou Ming has already arrived,” Chu Chen continued.

“His Spatial Ability can now open large-scale Portals. Your mission has changed. Focus on containment. Once the transfer is complete, head directly to the next Rift. If you’re detected during the relocation, abandon all survivors immediately. Zhou Ming will execute a forced jump to extract you.”

Chu Chen paused for a second.

“Your two lives are worth more than all those thousands of survivors combined. That’s an order.”

Altai Mountains.

Rift Camp No. 49.

Bitter wind whipped snow across the barren wilderness.

Lu Yuan cut the voice link.

He turned to look at Zhu Yan. Both of them simultaneously suppressed their energy fluctuations to the absolute minimum.

“Wang Shan, work faster!” Zhu Yan shouted into the snowfield.

“I know, I know—my dear lady.”

Wang Shan intensified his Mental Strength output, controlling three hundred Puppet Soldiers.

The Puppet Soldiers fanned out, guiding nearly two thousand survivors toward the open ground at the center of the camp.

A ring of azure ripples spread across the space ahead.

Zhou Ming stepped out from the void.

Without a word, he pressed both hands directly onto the snow. His seventh-rank Space-based superpower erupted at full force.

Rеaԁ oո ΚаtRеаⅾinɡСаfе

A massive blue light gate, twenty meters high and fifty meters wide, rose from the ground.

Beyond the gate lay the smooth stone plaza of the Western Sichuan Base.

“Get through! Run!” Zhou Ming roared.

The crowd began to stir.

Prolonged hunger and fear had left these survivors physically depleted.

They shoved each other, stumbling as they moved. Some fell into the snow and struggled to get back up. Wang Shan’s Puppet Soldiers had to step in, forcibly dragging people to their feet and hurling them through the light gate.

The procession crawled forward.

Zhu Yan looked up toward the northwest.

The sky there was changing color.

The gray-white snow clouds were being torn apart by some violent force, revealing a dark crimson underbelly.

Fifty tangible pressures bore down without the slightest pretense of concealment.

The wind stopped.

Snowflakes hung suspended in midair, then were crushed to powder by invisible gravity.

Seventh-rank pressure. Fifty of them.

On the back of Zhu Yan’s hand, dark-gold Dragon Scales emerged uncontrollably, spreading all the way up to her elbow.

“Eight hundred kilometers out.” Lu Yuan stared at the real-time satellite distance on his wrist device. “They’re extremely fast. Three minutes at most before they reach us.”

He glanced at the crowd crammed before the light gate.

Five thousand six hundred people, plus the Chosen Ones from the previous defense base.

The line stretched too long. Even with Zhou Ming opening the gate to its maximum, a full transfer would take at least twenty minutes.

There simply wasn’t enough time.

The communicator vibrated again. Chu Chen’s voice came through, faster now.

“Enemy ETA: two minutes and forty seconds. The transfer won’t make it. Zhou Ming, close the gate and retreat.”

Rеаԁ oո ΚаtRеαԁіոgСαfe

At the front of the gate, a woman collapsed at Lu Yuan’s feet.

In her arms, she clutched a young girl of about ten years old.

The little girl’s lips were purple from the cold, her big eyes filled with terror, yet she bit her lip hard and made not a single sound.

The woman struggled to stand, but her frozen legs simply wouldn’t obey.

At the very back of the line stood over a dozen local Chosen Ones in tattered uniforms.

They were the original guards of this base.

Some had lost an arm, some had lost an eye.

Clutching battle-worn blades with chipped or dulled edges, they voluntarily formed a line, standing between the crowd and the northwest.

With their broken bodies, they shielded the old, the weak, the women, and the children from the wind and snow behind them.

Lu Yuan looked at the little girl’s eyes, then at the dozen or so disabled Chosen Ones standing ramrod straight.

Chu Chen’s cold voice still echoed in the communicator.

“Lu Yuan, carry out the order. This is war. We need to preserve our strongest combat power. Retreat!”

Lu Yuan raised his right hand.

His five fingers clenched suddenly.

Crack.

The specially-made communicator crumbled into a handful of metallic dust in his palm. The static cut off abruptly.

Zhu Yan turned her head, her golden vertical pupils locked onto him.

“Wang Shan, have your puppets throw people through the gate!” Lu Yuan didn’t look at Zhu Yan. He shouted at Wang Shan instead. “Zhou Ming, hold that gate open for me! Not a single person gets left behind!”

Zhou Ming gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead, both hands digging into the ground as he desperately maintained the stability of the light gate.

Lu Yuan’s hands began to glow, transforming into Light Blades.

Golden Light Element compressed to extreme density along the edges of the blades, emitting a piercing whine.

Read оո КαtRеaⅾіnɡСаfе

“What are you going to do?” Zhu Yan grabbed his arm.

Lu Yuan turned around.

The usual infuriating grin was gone from his face. His eyes were strangely calm.

“I’m a Light-type. Fastest on Blue Star.” Lu Yuan brushed aside Zhu Yan’s hand. “I’m going to take those horned bastards for a run. Lure them north. Buy as much time as I can.”

He glanced at the crowd still passing through the light gate.

“Chu Chen’s right. I’m the Federation’s number one prodigy. My life is precious.” Lu Yuan curled the corner of his mouth in a self-deprecating smile. “But today, I suddenly feel like being a cold-blooded smartass isn’t all that interesting. I’ve been alive for nearly thirty years, and I’ve never been a hero. Today, I want to try.”

He turned around, knees bending slightly, ready to launch into the air.

A hand pressed down on his shoulder. With tremendous force.

Zhu Yan stepped up beside him.

She reached up and pulled off the black hairband, tucking it into her pocket.

Her golden hair whipped wildly in the freezing wind.

The dragon horns on her forehead were now fully exposed, and dark golden scales rapidly spread across her arms and neck.

Peak Level Seven Semi-Dragonification, fully activated.

“Are you insane?” Lu Yuan’s eyes went wide. “You’re a close-combat fighter! How are you supposed to fight a guerrilla war against fifty Level Seven Purebloods? Are you looking to die? Get inside!”

“Shut up.” Zhu Yan looked at him coldly.

She didn’t say another word.

Her legs drove into the ground, and the earth beneath her instantly collapsed into a massive crater.

Zhu Yan’s figure shot skyward, charging straight toward that dark red sky in the northwest.

Lu Yuan stood frozen in place.

He watched that silhouette moving against the wind and snow.

“Damn it.”

Lu Yuan cursed. Golden light erupted in an instant. He transformed into a streak of radiance, tearing through the wind and snow, catching up to Zhu Yan mid-air.

Reαԁ оո КαtReаⅾinɡCαfe

The two hovered side by side, a thousand meters above the ground.

The gale tore at their clothes. A hundred kilometers ahead, fifty deep crimson points of light were already visible to the naked eye. The terrifying pressure, like a tangible tsunami, crashed against them wave after wave.

“We’re a team.” Zhu Yan stared straight ahead, her voice slightly distorted by the wind. “I don’t have a habit of letting my teammates go off to die alone.”

Lu Yuan tightened his grip on the Light Blade in his hand.

“Yanzi.”

“Call me Zhu Yan.”

“When the fighting starts, stay close to me.” Lu Yuan fixed his gaze on the Pureblood army drawing ever nearer, his Light Element burning to its absolute limit. “I’m fast. If you fall behind, I’m not coming back to save you.”

Zhu Yan’s lips curled into the faintest hint of a smile.

“Worry about yourself.”

West Sichuan Base Command Center.

The hall was deathly silent. Everyone stared at the main screen.

The two points of light representing Lu Yuan and Zhu Yan had completely broken away from the retreat route. They hadn’t entered the Space Gate—instead, they charged head-on toward those fifty colossal crimson blots of light.

Chen Mo clenched his fists so hard his nails pierced his palms.

Chu Chen sat in the tactical chair.

He didn’t rage. He didn’t issue new orders.

He watched the two points of light moving against the current on the screen, and slowly let out a breath.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a White Rabbit candy.

“Just as I expected.” Chu Chen’s voice carried a hint of helplessness, then he switched channels.

A languid female voice came through, with the sounds of explosions and dragon roars in the background.

“What’s up?”

“Are you done over there? There are two idiots who need you to rush over and save their lives.”